Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 03 July 2008 |
The People's Action Committee for Healthy Air said Thursday it supports the carbon tax the provincial government has implemented because it will help to reduce air pollution.
However, the advocacy group -- which has more than 1,000 members -- is also concerned about potential negative fallout, particularly on those that are the most vulnerable, like children living in poverty, seniors, disabled persons and those needing health care in remote and rural areas.
Marie Hay, a director of the healthy air committee, noted that these are the groups of people that have the least ability and flexibility to deal with the increased costs.
The carbon tax -- meant to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a measure to assist in preventing global warming -- could also have unforeseen impacts on air pollution, noted Hay.
She said that one of the potential impacts of the carbon tax is that more people may burn wood in the winter to heat their homes and that will worsen air quality. The groups most susceptible to poor air quality are children, seniors and those with existing health problems, observed Hay. "Poor people are going to choose the cheapest option," she said.
It's why the healthy air committee is calling on the provincial government to develop more affordable housing for the poor that incorporates innovative green-energy systems.
The group also says that increased government revenues also need to be designated for green energy technology development and subsidies for installations and renovations for people who move to more sustainable and clean sources of energy. Those include solar, geothermal and fuel-cell technologies, the group says.
The healthy air committee is also encouraging the province to follow European strategies which increase taxes on large gas-guzzling vehicles. Hay noted that in Holland people who choose to drive large vehicles pay thousands of dollars in road taxes as well as fees on the purchase of the vehicles.
Asked whether that would be meant to include big trucks used by forestry and other natural resource sectors, Hay said that is a question that has to be addressed by each sector. However, she noted that everyone will have to do their part to reduce the carbon footprint.
Recently, the Central Interior Logging Association called the carbon tax another blow to the logging, hauling and silviculture contractors. Those contractors are already feeling the impacts from lower logging volumes and contract price reductions in the wake of an unprecedented downturn in the forest sector led by a collapse in the U.S. housing sector.
Rick Publicover, the logging association's executive director, said in the group's weekly newsletter that the harvesting sector is a fossil-fuel consumption based sector and there are limited opportunities to reduce fuel consumption.
For example, he said contractors cannot replace a skidder used to bring logs to the roadside with a smaller machine that uses less fuel.
Fuel prices that once represented five per cent of the log harvesting costs are now up to 30 per cent of costs, added Publicover. "The (association's) position is that the supply chain involved in producing green building products and green energy should be exempt from the carbon tax and government should provide incentives to encourage better fuel efficiency as opposed to a punitive tax," said Publicover.
The Liberal government's carbon tax, which went into effect July 1, will be phased in over five years to give consumers and businesses time to adjust.
The tax starts at a rate based on $10 per tonne of carbon emissions and rises $5 a year to $30 per tonne by 2012. The tax currently works out to an extra 2.4 cents a litre on gasoline, rising to 7.24 cents per litre by 2012.
The carbon tax on diesel and home heating oil will start at 2.7 cents per litre and increase to 8.2 cents per litre over the five-year period.
The tax is being billed as revenue neutral, meaning the government will not use money generated from the tax. The revenue, estimated to hit $1.8 billion over three years, will be returned to taxpayers through personal income tax and business tax cuts.
Last week households in B.C. began receiving a $100 Climate Action Dividend, a one-time cheque for every residents of the province aimed at funding environmental change at home.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
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